Study: The most common symptoms of COVID-19 for vaccinators

In the study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases In the fall, 902 people were fully vaccinated and not as many were vaccinated. All tested positive for coronavirus and reported symptoms during the period from December 2020 to July 2021.

The most common symptoms in both groups were fever and fatigue. Then came – in varying order – a runny nose, headache, sneezing, sore throat, persistent cough, loss of smell, hoarseness, dizziness, and chills.

And it turned out that the vaccinated had fewer symptoms than the unvaccinated, especially with regard to fever, loss of smell and diarrhea. The vast majority of the study were vaccinated with the Astra Zeneca and Pfizer/Biontech vaccines.

Magnus Gislin, Professor In the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Gothenburg and chief medical officer at Sahlgrenska University Hospital, he believes it is a good study that provides complementary information on the Covid-19 virus that is otherwise difficult to access.

When many people regularly report their symptoms, it gives a different picture than other studies of mild infections can provide.

He doesn’t think it’s possible to make any major changes to the fact that the order of symptoms looks different between vaccinated and unvaccinated, but he thinks it may be a coincidence. What stands out is that people who have been vaccinated show fewer symptoms, he says.

There are more people who are completely asymptomatic and have fewer symptoms, and this applies to almost any symptom you look at.

Another thing that stands out is that there were fewer vaccinated people who had long-term symptoms – and those who still had symptoms after 28 days.

At the same time, Magnus Gislin asserts that symptoms were reported in the first half of 2021, when the alpha variant was still prevalent. Today, it is the delta variant that has taken over the spread of infection.

– You can imagine it looks different today.

The data behind the study was retrieved From the Zoe covid study, a British project started by King’s College in London and now has two campuses in Sweden and America.

Tove Val, Professor of Molecular Epidemiology at Uppsala University, is one of those responsible for the Swedish part of the Zoe Covid study. She believes that certain symptoms such as loss of smell and heart palpitations are a hallmark of the Covid-19 virus, compared to people with a cold or flu, according to Swedish data.

Less than ten percent reported a loss of smell in those who tested positive for COVID-19 and symptoms such as heart palpitations were very uncommon in that group.

She thinks the British study is good. Participants in both groups work in the healthcare field and get along when it comes to things like gender, age, and BMI. However, there are some weaknesses. Partly that the participants themselves reported their symptoms, and partly that more women were included in the study than men and relatively few people from socioeconomically vulnerable areas.

But there is no reason to question the differences between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.

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